Moving Avocado Trees to Bigger Containers!

Avocado roots grow fast, and young trees like to grow fast. Avocados are native to rainforests and cloudforests on the side of mountains, and young seedlings usually grow in complete shade beneath their mother tree. So, they like to quickly push to break the canopy and get some sun. In this video, I experiment with some decomposed granite as my potting mix. The results are interesting!
The decomposed granite seemed to hold a lot of water and it took a long time to drain, but the tree didn't mind!

[@andrewburleson9846]

Your DG idea was what my soil mix was lacking! I’ve always used sand or wood chips. Thanks!

[@AJTheGraftMan]

No problem!

[@Free_Falastin2024]

You garden the way I do. The plants love it and you get to deadlift while gardening :)

[@aaronevans5209]

Thanks for all of the informative videos you produce! I’ve watched most of your grafting vids and four weeks ago I tried my first attempt at grafting. It looks like I’m five for five! Two sharwil and three other grafted trees of unknown varieties...

[@AJTheGraftMan]

Nice! I'm glad to hear it!

[@janettaina9630]

Love what you are doing. Thanks 🙏 I enjoy watching all of your videos, I always learn something.

[@AJTheGraftMan]

Thank you 🙂

[@jennahnoorzayee3078]

Ooooo!! I like your new mic Aj!!

[@AJTheGraftMan]

Thanks!

[@adventurekids3604]

Great video!

[@AJTheGraftMan]

Thanks!

[@frankyancy1347]

All-purpose sand works well, and drains well too. I've had very good results with my seedlings.

[@AJTheGraftMan]

It sure does... sand is great

[@b.buckners6396]

I'm in Indiana, have my delicious acquired avocado taste and ready to grow . Anybody share some plants with me ? Where's the free Avocado Roots fellow gardener ??

[@b.buckners6396]

I enjoyed your freeing of the roots video...

[@AJTheGraftMan]

B. Buckner's thanks for watching !

[@SamRadtke-z3n]

I love your channel so much! A few months ago, I used one of your videos to graft onto my seedling avocado tree. The tree is currently 32 inches tall, 4 years old, has a few branches, and is in a 1.7 gallon pot. Now, I am thinking about repotting the tree. Do you think I should? If so, how big of a pot should I use? Thank you so much!

[@AJTheGraftMan]

I think you'd be ok to repot it. I would go with a 3 gallon or a 5 gallon pot. Good luck!

[@SamRadtke-z3n]

@@AJTheGraftMan Thank you so much for your help!

[@Patrick_PD2ET]

Yo AJ..!!! good video !!! thank for what you share..from your house to all avocado tree people every on planet Earth!! 👌💚💚💚🌟

[@AJTheGraftMan]

Thanks! Spread the love.................

[@yusufnoorzayee6898]

Good Job and thanks

[@AJTheGraftMan]

Thanks

[@johnnysworld-backyardorchard]

Nice video, very informative, thanks for sharing!

[@AJTheGraftMan]

Thanks!

[@TheFrankmajordad1]

Great job, the experience and knowledge are excellent !

[@nagwagi2000]

Handsome fella!😉

[@electricyellow613]

It's interesting that the avocado seedling likes decomposed granite. Me personally looking at that tree would think it has a nutrient deficiency like nitrogen or iron. Curious...

[@jimk6862]

really like the simplicity of using only decomposed granite.. a little time has passed now, which seems better, 50/50 peat/sand or all dg? thanks

[@AJTheGraftMan]

DG seems to be a lot better. Avocado trees love it. Growers get nervous with DG because water doesn’t drain through it as fast as other soils, but avocados don’t mind that at all!

[@slickrock7406]

You can bury a banana peel or 2 once a week in the sides of that container (free fertilizer) and coffee grounds on top, tree will take off and become Super Green. Working for me in FL.

[@andrealcasas]

Thank you for the info! Would you do the same steps transferring from pot to ground?

[@AJTheGraftMan]

For ground planting I would use native soil only, unless you have clay. Check out my 2nd most recent video I did about planting

[@andrealcasas]

@@AJTheGraftMan thank you so much 🙏

[@TropicalGardenGuy]

Excellent video ! I have similar video in the works For permanent Avocado potting . I do add a little peat and perlite to increased drainage, but I’m told it isn’t Necessary

[@AJTheGraftMan]

Thanks Jeff! Look forward to your video

[@pampotgieter7611]

Thank you for sharing about decomposed granite. I googled to see if I could buy it in South Africa. Unfortunately it is not available here by that name. Maybe it goes by another name. I can get Basalt Rock, volcanic rock dust. Will that be ok to use instead ? The Basalt Rock and volcanic dust is really expensive to buy here. I hope you can help me. I love your videos on earth worms. I have earthworms in an old bath in our garage. I have a few avocados in pots, which I have grown from seeds. I am very new to gardening, and have some set backs with flooding, hail and gale force winds. But I am not giving up even though I lost most of the cabbage, kale and tomato plants. Thank goodness the green house my husband made survived. We have moved into this rented complex only 18 months ago. Starting from scratch. The soil is not good needs to be built up. So I have been collecting bags of autumn leaves, coffee grounds from a local restaurant, and using lawn cuttings. I am trying no till gardening. I don't use chemicals etc. I do chop and drop. Using materials that are available in our area. I do compost in place, and I have a Bokashi set up. I have learnt a lot by watching videos on the KZbin channel. Thank you for sharing, for your knowledge, and experience, I am most grateful. 🌍🇿🇦👍👍👍👍👍👍👍

[@AJTheGraftMan]

Hi! Yes basalt rock or volcanic rock is fine, as long as they are pulverized to an almost sandy consistency. I’m glad to hear you are persisting despite the setbacks. Keep it up! The mulch you are adding will help your soil tremendously. Thanks!

[@pampotgieter7611]

@@AJTheGraftMan Thank You for your quick response. Much appreciated 👍

[@davidmathibe9220]

I wish you could give me the roots you've cut I want to plant them again to see if they will grow to become another avocado plant

[@louisedheme774]

Thanks for the very informative video, however I do have a question on trimming the root. can I do the same, thus trimming the root when I am planting my grafted seedlings in the Ground?

[@AJTheGraftMan]

Thank you. It’s not really necessary when planting in the ground.

[@musaadfelton3909]

Hi may i ask. If an avacado tree is seriously root bound and the roots are curling around the pot. If a person up pot it or plant it in the ground. Can that root ball be shaved all around so that the roots don't continue growing in a spiral or will the tree die if you completely shave the exterior of the root ball ? There is a video showing a guy takes a battery powered saw and then shaves a root ball. But i was wondering, can this be done with avacado trees?

[@AJTheGraftMan]

I'm not sure. I've never tried this.

[@vegardno]

I'm wondering about this... if you look e.g. at the Brokaw seedlings from Greg Alder's planting videos, the trees themselves are much bigger but in much smaller sleeves than the tree you showed. How do they manage to grow trees to that size in such small sleeves..!?

[@AJTheGraftMan]

I'm not familiar with the sleeves. I don't know.

[@saxenart]

If it grows bigger do you need to remove it from the pot and at some point plant it into the ground?

[@AJTheGraftMan]

Yes eventually

[@mikecheck1256]

Do you have to fertilize avocados more when growing in the DG?

[@AJTheGraftMan]

No

[@Chainyanker007]

Would you do the same thing, using decomposed granite, when moving an avocado from a 5 gal to a 15 gal (its final home)?

[@AJTheGraftMan]

Yes

[@RH-zc5dq]

will you be using the decomposed granite when u planting it in the ground at later stage?..wht would be the soil mix..plz advise..thx

[@AJTheGraftMan]

I usually plant in the native soil. I don’t add anything

[@RH-zc5dq]

@@AJTheGraftMan no compost manure etc? our sandy soil is very desert like ..alkaline..

[@glorytogodhomestead3495]

Could you tell me which video you have that talks about avocado seed starting etc. thank you! Im a new subscriber.

[@AJTheGraftMan]

I have a video about this coming in the next few months. I have many seeds planted in different soils, sunlight exposures, etc. I'm testing to find the best way to do it. I'm just waiting for the seeds to grow out. Stay tuned :)

[@katrinaskaar9058]

Hi. If I moved my avocado tree from the nursery 5 gallon to a new pot with decomposed granite, it would still have its own soil that they planted it in. Do you think I should be concerned with root rot, because there's some other soil that could rot?

[@AJTheGraftMan]

Good question. If you moved it to a new pot with decomposed granite, the chance of root rot would go down significantly. It’s possible yes, but roots would eventually spread into the good soil

[@matthewhernandez4933]

Did this work? About to repot mine and I keep losing them to root rot so this sounds nice but worries me cause it looks like it’s holding lots of water

[@AJTheGraftMan]

Yeah it worked fine. The tree is healthy and happy. Amazingly, it didn't mind being under water for many hours. Decomposed granite has no organic material in it, so there's little threat of rot! When I water now, the water drains through within five minutes.

[@albuterol71]

Planting in decomposed granite. Could I try that with citrus too

[@AJTheGraftMan]

I’ve done videos on my channel that answer your question. Check them out!

[@wongchohwa1024]

Hi , can I substitute DG with top soil?.Thanks

[@AJTheGraftMan]

Depends what is in the top soil

[@jasonwagner3922]

How’s the tree doing? The leaves look similar to my potted citrus when they have a iron deficiency.

[@AJTheGraftMan]

I grafted this tree and sold it a few months after the video. It was doing really well

[@budstik]

AJ, is it ok to use crushed granite? I'm having a hard time finding decomposed in Canada.

[@AJTheGraftMan]

Yes as long as it’s crushed to an almost sandy consistency

[@jamestnguyen2165]

I would add perlite to the mix. DG sometimes is too fine not coarse enough.

[@AJTheGraftMan]

good idea

[@ocneal]

Nice video, AJ. I like how you pruned that taproot to fit to 5 ga pot better. Do you ever add say, 1/2 teaspoon of time-released Osmocote granular fertilizer or is it too soon for that? 👍👍

[@AJTheGraftMan]

Thanks Neal. I add Osmocote a few months after transplanting.

[@tomreveles597]

Can I air root a avocado 🥑 when it is flowering 💐?

[@AJTheGraftMan]

I don’t know

[@fire808surf]

I cannot get DG here. Any other soil suggestions?

[@AJTheGraftMan]

I would try builders sand or paver sand.

[@AE-tk9fp]

Hey bro! Any update to this? How’s the plant doing? I see a lot of avocados in 15 gallons at Louie’s that have DG and what looks like sand mixed together. Have you seen this too?

[@AJTheGraftMan]

I grafted this tree and gave it away last year. It was looking nice then. Some nurseries sell their trees in pure DG. The problem with DG is that it’s so heavy and hard to carry. Kind of tough for certain folks to move it around. Otherwise it’s great

[@gtrgenie]

If you skip the toothpicks and water and just put seed in Soil, you can save soooo much time.

[@MartinBratislavski-c5v]

I can’t find DG where I live in Europe. Any websites you can suggest that I can order a bit of DG¿ If not, are there any alternatives to DG?

[@AJTheGraftMan]

I don't know.

[@ramiroaandrade729]

Today I bought at B D White Topsoil in Gardena 2 bags (1.0 cu feet each bag)of Pumice for $14 total plus another buck'n half for taxes. They also sell bags of "topsoil" ($5 each of 1.0 cu feet), which is screened sandy loam soil. (checkout the B D White Topsoil website). I am going to mix it up with peat moss(3 cu feet) from HD $10.97 and also mix pearlite bought at Yamada in Gardena ( I forgot the price but its cheaper than Home Depot or any hydroponics store), and Charcoal from Armstrong Nursery for $5 a lil bag.

[@AJTheGraftMan]

Sounds like a great mix. Looks like you’re making your own top pot soil!

[@organicgardening5989]

Update please

[@AJTheGraftMan]

I grafted this tree and sold it a few months after this video. Sorry

[@organicgardening5989]

@@AJTheGraftMan Thanks for your prompt respond 🌷

[@Omar-bf2hv]

First

[@MG956_]

Nice, give us an update of how it does in about a week

[@AJTheGraftMan]

sure thing

[@drillsergeant623]

The leaves are like that cuz you neglected it, in order to make a video. 👍🏼